Shaka Zulu Lazuli
Lazuli Shaka Zulu(VLM124) was born on April 24, 2006 in the Lazuli Mob. His mother either Young or HP and his father was a roving male. Shaka Zulu was born in a large mix-litter of seven pups named Flax(VLF118), Bernard(VLM119), Lallie(VLF120), Landie(VLF121), Teaser(VLM122) and Caroline(VLF123). The dominant female at the time was their great grantmother Cazanna and her son JD was the dominant male at the time. Cazanna had no pups of her own since her mate Basil had died in mid 2005, so she allowed Shaka Zulu and his litter-mates to remain in the Lazuli. The pups raised the Lazuli's low numbers after several evicted females and roving males had disappeared. All seven pups survived their first few weeks and started foraging with the adults. Dominant male JD left the group in mid 2006, Shaka Zulu was too young to take interest in male dominance so Padloper became the next dominant male. Cazanna died in December and her eldest daughter Aretha became the new dominant female. She started to evicted HP and Young along with the other females within the group. Shaka Zulu and his litter-mates reached a year of age and started taking care of the pups and watching out for danger. Sadly a month later, Shaka Zulu's sister Flax died. The following month Padloper died, leaving the dominant male position open. Shaka Zulu was one of the oldest males still in the group but two other males were older than him, one of them J. Alfred Prufrock became the next dominant male. Shaka Zulu and Bernard started to take to roving with the older males. Shaka Zulu's litter-mates Lallie and Teaser died in September 2007. In November Landie was killed leaving just Shaka Zulu, Bernard and Caroline as the last of their litter still in the Lazuli. The Lazuli began to fall in numbers to just twelve members, however Aretha and Caroline gave birth to a mix litter in March 2008. Sadlly all the pups were soon predated within the following months. In May 2008, Aretha died and Young took dominant female. A month later in June,J. Alfred Prufrock, Bernard, Shaka Zulu, Bosh and Bash went roving, they visited the Nutters. While the males were away roving, Five Whiskers males join the Lazuli kicking out Thundercat. The Lazuli males were not allowed to rejoin the Lazuli so they conitued to rove till they met up with five evicted wild females. Hoppla In August, the five Lazuli males met up with five females and formed the Hoppla. J. Alfred Prufrock became the dominant male of the group. Since he was not the dominant male, Shaka Zulu went roving at the Whiskers but return to the Hoppla before the month was over. VHPF002 took dominant female of the group in September. Again Shaka Zulu went roving in October but this time, he didn't return. He would disappear for nineteen months before reappearing. Zulus Shaka Zulu reappeared with 18 wild meerkats in April 2010. The new group was called the Zulus Mob. Shaka Zulu was seen acting as the dominant male so he was fitted with a radio collar. However, the researchers didn't full identify him until July. In October the dominant female was discovered and given the ID Code VZUF001. She was later named Ocho Niple becasue of her eight nipples instead of six. In November 2010 Ocho Niple gave birth to a new litter of pups. Then again in Janaury 2011 she gave birth to another three pups probably fathered by Shaka Zulu. In 2013, the Zulus were being semi-habituated and becoming more used to the researchers being around them. In April 2013, seven year old Shaka Zulu was bitten by a snake and shortly after disappeared without a trace. He was presumed dead, leaving the Zulus mob without their dominant male. Shaka Zulu had held that position in the group for at least three years. Luckily the group was semi-habituated and was able to still be monitored. Family Mother: HP or Young Father: Unknown Sisters: Flax, Lallie, Landie and Caroline Brothers: Bernard and Teaser Mate: Ocho Niple Links Lazuli Mob Hoppla Mob Zulus Mob Category:Lazuli meerkats Category:Hoppla meerkats Category:Zulus meerkats Category:Dominate meerkats Category:Dominant Males Category:Last Seen meerkats Category:Deceased meerkats Category:Dominant meerkats